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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Margaret Lester Wetmore: Birth: 2 FEB 1794 in Gagetown, Queen's County, New Brunswick. Death: 11 MAY 1867

  2. George Ludlow Wetmore: Birth: 26 DEC 1795 in Gagetown, New Brunswick. Death: 2 OCT 1821 in Fredericton, New Brunswick

  3. Jane Haviland Wetmore: Birth: 16 JUN 1797 in Gagetown, New Brunswick. Death: 2 AUG 1868 in Fairfield, Kingsclear, York Co., New Brunswick

  4. Charles Peters Wetmore: Birth: 16 DEC 1798 in Saint John, New Brunswick.

  5. Ann Peters Wetmore: Birth: 19 AUG 1800 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 8 JUN 1875 in St. Andrews, Charlotte Co., New Brunswick

  6. Sarah Wetmore: Birth: 16 JAN 1802 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 23 JAN 1886 in Fredericton, York Co., New Brunswick

  7. Timothy Robert Wetmore: Birth: 5 MAY 1803 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 28 DEC 1883 in Gagetown, New Brunswick

  8. Thomas Allen Wetmore: Birth: 26 JAN 1805 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 22 SEP 1805

  9. Susannah Mary Wetmore: Birth: 3 OCT 1806 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 31 AUG 1848 in Fredericton, York Co., New Brunswick

  10. Eleanor Wetmore: Birth: 27 OCT 1809 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Death: 10 MAY 1810

  11. Emma Wetmore: Birth: 8 OCT 1811 in Saint John, New Brunswick.

  12. Thomas Saunders Wetmore: Birth: 26 NOV 1813 in Kingswood Estate, Kingsclear, York County, N.B..


Notes
a. Note:   Moved from New York to New Brunswick as United Empire Loyalsit.
 Appointed Attorney General of New Brunswick in 1809. Moved from Saint John with family in 1810. In 1813 Honourable Thomas Wetmore bought "Kingswood" .
  Thomas Wetmore, Esq. removed, with his father, at the close of the Revolutionary Ware, to the province of New Brunswick and, after studying law in the office of Ward Chipman, on of the most prominent lawyers of the province, was admitted as attorney in the year 1788. In 1793, he and his father formed a co-partnership and engaged in the practice of law at Saint John, maintaining, also, an office at Fredericton, which was then the seat of the government. Mr. Wetmore was recorder of the city of Saint John in 1809-10, and attorney-general of the province 1809 until his death in 1828.
  Thomas Wetmore, in 1793, married, at Gagetown, New Brunswick, Sarah daughter of Judge James Peters and on the death of Colin Campbell, in 1796, was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court. The year 1809 was a red letter one to Thomas Wetmore, as on the appointment in that year of Ward Chipman to the bench, he succeeded to the recorder-ship of Saint John and on the appointment of Jonathan Bliss as Chief Justice, he succeeded to the office of attorney-general, and was elected as one of the members of the legislature for the city of Saint John. In 1810 he removed with his family to Fredericton, where he bought a house on Queen Street. In 1815 he bought "Kingswood" a 1,500 acre estate at Springhill, near Fredericton.
  Attorney-General Wetmore has been described as a man eminently distinquished for his talents, benevolence, and hospitality. He hand was always open to the poor, and he was a friend to all. As a lawyer and advocate, he stood high in the profession. He died at his residence, "Kingswood", 22 March 1828, aged 62 years.
  The Children of Thomas and Sarah (Peters) Wetmore:
 1. Margaret Lester, b. 2 Feb 1794; m. 17 Oct 1814, Thomas Carleton Lee, Receiver General of N.B.
 2 . George Ludow, b. 15Dec 1795; m. 26 Dec 1816, Harriet Rainsford; d. 2 Oct 1821
 3. Jane Haviland, b. 16 June 1797; m. 6 Nov 1826; Henry Bartlett Rainsford; d. 1868
 4. Charles Peters, b. 16 Dec 1793; m.(1) 15 May 1823, Harriet Mincheon, m.(2) 29 Oct 1830; Sarah (Kethchum) Burr; m. (3) 1843 Julia Anne Hewlett Peters.
 5. Ann Peters, b. 19 AUG 1800; M. 21 Nov 1815, John Head, M.D.
 6. Sarah Peters, b. 16 Jan 1802, m. 7 Aug 1819 George Pidgeon Bliss, Receiver General of N.B.
 7. Timothy Robert, b. 25 May 1803; m. (1) 13 Jan 1829, Frances Sophia Margaret Straton; m. (2) 19 Nov1846,
 Mary Anne Sophia Bonnell
 8. Thomas Allen, B. 26 Jan; d. 22 Sep 1805
 9. Susannah Mary b. 3 Oct 1806; m. Jun 1829, George Jarvis Dibblee; d. 31 Aug 1848
 10 Eleanor, b. 27 Oct 1809; d. 10 May 1810
 11 Emma, b. 8 Oct 1811; m. ;9 Nov 1837, William J. Bedell
 12 Thomas Saunders, M.D., B. 26 Nov 1813; m. 13 Oct 1840, Anna Dorothea Robinson
  Sources:
 The Bar of Rye Township (Rye N.Y.)
 The Judges of New Brunswick and their Times--Lawrence 1909
 Wetmore Memoral----James C. Wetmore
  WETMORE, THOMAS, lawyer, office holder, militia officer, politician, and jp; b. 20 Sept. 1767 in Rye, N.Y., fifth of the eight children of Timothy Wetmore and Jane Haviland; m. 17 March 1793 Sarah Peters in Gagetown, N.B., and they had 12 children; d. 22 March 1828 on his estate, called Kingswood, at Kingsclear (near Fredericton), N.B.
  Thomas Wetmore came to New Brunswick “with the loyal Emigrants” in 1783 and settled with his father, Timothy Wetmore, first in Carleton (Saint John) and then in Gagetown. He studied law in the office of Ward Chipman, became an attorney in 1788, and was admitted to the bar in 1790. Entering into partnership with his father, he was appointed deputy surrogate, clerk of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and registrar of deeds and wills for Queens County. In 1793 he married Sarah Peters, the daughter of judge James Peters. This union and the subsequent marriages of his children linked Wetmore to a wide network of prominent families, but for many years his influence with the leading members of the provincial élite was tenuous and he was unable to acquire “the favours of Government.” Because of the limited opportunities in Gagetown, Timothy Wetmore eventually returned to the United States and Thomas relocated in Saint John. In 1796 he was selected as clerk of the Supreme Court; however, the chief justice, George Duncan Ludlow*, decided that the post should not be held by a practising lawyer. Two years later Thomas sought to become clerk of the Common Council of Saint John, replacing Elias Hardy*, but he did not possess sufficient influence.
  In 1808, when the provincial militia was embodied during a temporary crisis in Anglo-American relations, Wetmore served as a lieutenant-colonel in charge of the militia units stationed in Saint John. By his exertions he won the support of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnstone, who was shortly to become administrator of the colony, and judge John Saunders, the commander of the militia around Fredericton; through their influence he became recorder of the city of Saint John and also attorney general, succeeding Jonathan Bliss, in July 1809. The former position Wetmore found “burthensome” and he relinquished it in 1811, but he remained attorney general until his death. In 1809 Wetmore had also been elected to the House of Assembly for Saint John County and City. He took his seat in January 1810 and played an active part in the deliberations of the assembly. In 1813, as attorney general, he was ordered by the lieutenant governor to move to the seat of government in Fredericton, and he did not reoffer himself as a candidate for Saint John County and City in the elections of 1816. In 1817 he was given a seat on the provincial council and was sworn in on 22 December, but he was never one of the inner circle of government advisers under either Major-General George Stracey Smyth or Sir Howard Douglas*.
  A strong supporter of the established church, Wetmore served on the board of the College of New Brunswick and for a time as president of the Fredericton branch of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He also served as one of the justices of the peace for York County and as chairman of the York County Agricultural and Emigrant Society. His primary interest, however, was his legal business. Since his extensive private practice necessitated his going on circuit, he conducted all crown prosecutions himself, even after it was determined that the attorney general had no legal right to monopolize them. His income, especially from fees on land grants, was sufficiently large that he declined the offer of a judgeship in 1815, although he became a candidate for the post of chief justice in 1822, losing out to Saunders. His last years were not happy ones. In 1821 his eldest son, George Ludlow Wetmore, was killed in a duel and his wife died in 1827. Wetmore withdrew from political activity. His expenses exceeded his income and when he died in 1828 he was virtually insolvent. He was succeeded as attorney general by Robert Parker*.
  In 1809 Administrator Martin Hunter* described Wetmore as “unquestionably the ablest and best qualified Barrister” in New Brunswick. In fact, Wetmore was a competent lawyer but not an outstanding one, and he does not appear to have made any significant contribution to the evolution of the law or the legal profession in the colony. He was also of marginal importance as a politician. As with many second-generation loyalists his primary claim to preference was that his family had been “ever firm in their loyalty.”
  Phillip Buckner
  [There is a small collection of Wetmore letters in the Saunders papers, UNBL, MG H11, and an even smaller collection in the Winslow papers, UNBL, MG H2. A number of letters written by Wetmore while he was attorney general can be found in PANB, RG 2, RS8, attorney general, 1/1, and there is scattered correspondence in PRO, CO 188 files, and in PANB, RG 10, RS 108. Also useful are N.B., House of Assembly, Journal, 1810-15 and 1836, app.I, and the Executive Council minutes for 1817-28, PANB, RG 2, RS6, A2-3. The only secondary source of any value is Lawrence, Judges of N.B. (Stockton and Raymond), although there is a useful genealogy in J. C. Wetmore, The Wetmore family of America, and its collateral branches: with genealogical, biographical, and historical notices (Albany, N.Y., 1861). p b.]
  Source---Dictionary of Canadian Biography


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